1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electrical device terminal socket assembly and, more particularly, to a two-piece constructed terminal socket assembly having recessed structure therein for receiving a plurality of electrical terminal contact members and for completely electrically isolating and insulating the electrical terminal contact members from one another.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Presently known electrical terminal sockets, of the type employed with control relays, for example, have common fundamental design requirements regardless of their ultimate application. The socket must adequately support, at an external face portion thereof, the mounted relay, and must include as well a high density symmetrical array of electrical terminal contact members. The terminal contact members are disposed within recessed terminal-receiving cavities which, in turn, are symmetrically aranged within the body of the socket to assure positive electrical connections with a corresponding symmetrical array of electrical male pin contacts extending from the mounted relay. Thus, the socket body, including the terminal-receiving cavities therein, is required to have structure that completely electrically isolates and insulates the retained contact-terminal members from one another, so as to prevent electrical arcing and subsequent shorting between adjacently retained terminal contact members of the array. Such electrical arcing often occurs as a consequence of many of the external electrical connections to the socket being at different voltage potentials. Also, the socket body must be designed to efficiently position the terminal plate portions of socket contact terminals so that, external conductors may readily and conveniently be connected thereto and further, so that one large number of such external connections may be made.
To meet these basic requirements, particularly those relating to the placement, isolation, and insulation of the terminal contact members housed in the socket body, the known practice is to construct the socket body from several interconnecting sectional pieces. However, the prior socket bodies constructed from several pieces may not provide the desired protection against shorting electrical arcs traveling across the several adjoining surfaces of the intermating pieces, nor do they provide desired protection against the electrical arcs which travel across the core holes and the air gaps that are necessarily present within thermoplastic constructed sockets to facilitate the molding thereof. Moreover, the manufacturing and handling of the several pieces making up the prior socket body undesirably results in an increased cost associated with tooling, production, inventory and distribution.
Additionally, it is common to support and secure control relays to the mounting surface of the socket without any help other than locking springs plus perhaps the mechanical connection between the electrical terminal contact members of the socket and electrical pin contact members of the relay. This arrangement, however, may be inadequate to prevent the relay from deleterious rocking when the relay-socket assembly is employed in high vibratory environments or is subected to severe shock. The rocking movement of the relay puts the terminal-receiving portions of the terminal contact members under additional detrimental stress, thus, causing fatigue thereof which eventually leads to loosening of the electrical connections between the terminal contact members of the socket body and the pin contact members of the relay.
Also, it is not unusual for control relays to have misaligned pin members within the array resulting from manufacturing mistolerances or abuse in use or handling. However, repetitions acts of inserting and withdrawing misaligned pin contact members, at the pin contact receiving portions of the terminal contact members, when either connecting or disconnecting the relay at the socket, puts unwanted stresses on the terminal-receiving portions of the terminal contact members. These undesired stresses cause fatigue within the terminal-receiving portions of the terminal contact members and eventual loosening or breaking of the electrical connections between the misaligned pin contact members and the terminal contact members.
To prevent the occurrence of stress produced fatigue, and the subsequent harmful loosening and breaking of terminal contact members associated therewith, terminal contact members have been constructed in a numerous assortment of different shapes or configurations, as well as constructed from a wide variety of different metal compounds. Nevertheless, conventional terminal contact members suffer disadvantages in that they have not been constructed in a configuration making them capable of neutralizing or circumventing harmful stress produced fatigue, such that, positive electrical connections between the misaligned inserted pin contacts and the terminal contact members are maintained without any loosening or breaking thereof.
Against the foregoing background, it is an object of this invention to provide a compact electrical terminal socket, which socket comprises solely two separable interconnected body sections.
It is another object of this invention to provide a compact two-piece constructed terminal socket, which socket comprises a symmetrical array of recessed first and second terminal-receiving cavities juxtaposed within the socket in a manner to completely electrically isolate and insulate each inserted terminal contact member therein from one another, by which, electrical arcing between inserted terminal contact members is prevented.
It is still an object of this invention to provide a compact two-piece constructed electrical terminal socket, which socket comprises a seating means thereon for preventing rocking displacement of the relay mounted thereon.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a compact, two-piece constructed terminal socket, which socket comprises terminal contact members therein having contact-receiving portions thereof capable of satisfactorily accepting and retaining misaligned pin or blade contact members without loosening or breaking of the electrical connections formed thereby.
It is yet and still another object of this invention to provide a compact, two-piece constructed electrical terminal socket, which socket comprises a first plurality of terminal contact members and a second plurality of terminal contact members disposed therein, with the first plurality of terminal contact members being constructed differently from the second plurality of contact members, so as to allow for the socket body to be constructed from solely two pieces and to allow for external circuites to be connected to each contact member.